Bruce Makoto Arnold, PhD

I am a historian of post-1870s United States cultural history, educational/childhood history, and transnational ethnohistory with interests (amongst others) in Asian American, African American, consumer, family, photographic, and educational histories. I have sub-interests in cultural memory, private cultures, decentered histories, and the philosophies of history and education.

I earned my PhD in United States history in 2014 from the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College under the direction of Dr. Charles J. Shindo with minor fields in African diasporic/African American history (Dr. Gibril Cole) and educational history (Dr. Roland Mitchell). I have an earned master's degree in United States history from Sam Houston State University and another in East Asian history from the University of Wisconsin.  In preparation for these degrees I earned degrees in East Asian Studies at the University of Arizona and in philosophy (with a concentration in educational philosophy) from the Charter Oak State College of Connecticut.

After completing my studies, I served the people of Ohio as a post-doctoral researcher at The Ohio State University within the program of educational philosophy and history in the College of Education and Human Ecology's Department of Educational Studies. Beginning in the 2018-2019 academic school year I will continue to serve as an Assistant Professor in the same program and an affiliate faculty member of the Department of History.

I have published academic essays on the history of education, photography, Black spirituality, foodways, and society and war. I am the co-editor of two books and I am currently working to convert my dissertation into a publishable manuscript. 

As a professor, in addition to my deeply seated interest in helping students understand the past, I'm dedicated to my students' abilities to express themselves through writing. Having been in industry prior to my interests in history, I was on or headed several hiring committees and fully understand the ways in which bad writing can negatively affect someone in their career and how good writing can help promote someone forward.